Kings Of Leon Bassist Jared Followill Tried To Slut-Shame A Pro Wrestler On Twitter
Kings Of Leon bassist Jared Followill should maybe give himself a Twitter timeout. As NME points out, Followill has spent much of this week tweeting some dumb shit. Two days ago, Followill decided to use his account to tell the world to stop watching pro wrestling:
Hey, adults. Let’s maybe not watch professional wrestling. Ya know?
— Jared Followill (@youngfollowill) May 8, 2017
The Canadian indie wrestler “Speedball” Mike Bailey tweeted back at Followill with a pretty good comeback: “The washed up alternative rock band store called. They’re running out of you!” And Veda Scott, another indie wrestler, responded to Bailey’s tweet with an emoji of a shrimp. (I guess she was making fun of Followill for being a tiny man?)
UPDATE: The commenters are right; Scott was making a Seinfeld reference.
@tombreihan Hi, I'm in your Stereogum article about about indie wrestlers on twitter! My comment was…a Seinfeld joke. Just to clarify.
— Veda Scott (@itsvedatime) May 9, 2017
Followill responded by tweeting back at Scott, simply telling her to “Close your legs.” That was a really stupid thing to tweet! Followill deleted it soon after, but this is the internet, and screenshots are forever:
Maybe the best part of this whole story is the way the indie pro wrestlers of the world have responded to this whole thing: By gleefully trolling the shit out of Followill. Some samples:
The wrestling community coming together against @youngfollowill got me like: pic.twitter.com/nqVpyzQ9Ak
— Cedric Alexander (@CedricAlexander) May 9, 2017
Hey, adults. Let’s maybe not listen to @KingsOfLeon’s music. Ya know?
— Arik Cannon (@arikcannon) May 8, 2017
SO YEAH the litmus test for if you’re a trash pile is “do you respond to criticism with misogyny/homophobia/transphobia?” ✌🏻@youngfollowill
— Veda Scott (@itsvedatime) May 9, 2017
Meanwhile, here’s what Followill’s Twitter has been doing ever since:
Ok. So I’ve gathered a lot of people love wrestling. Folks are angry. Really angry. I wasn’t being literal. Continue to enjoy.
— Jared Followill (@youngfollowill) May 8, 2017
Guys! Guys! Guys! So that was a test! You all passed with flying colors! I thought people were against wrestling! But nope! Not us!
— Jared Followill (@youngfollowill) May 8, 2017
Ok. Look. Crazy story. Just got back from the bathroom. Somebody tweeted some dumb shit on my phone. Needless to say, suplex city! All good.
— Jared Followill (@youngfollowill) May 8, 2017
Heading onto the streets of Austin looking for a beer like pic.twitter.com/peoyxlGUYG
— Jared Followill (@youngfollowill) May 8, 2017
My mentions are making us howl right now. Too many to share. Maybe just one? I honestly love this dude. This is a guy I want to drink with. pic.twitter.com/fcSfx8XgAi
— Jared Followill (@youngfollowill) May 8, 2017
The funny part about this is that the indie wrestlers of the world — the people who Followill is actively trolling — spend their time traveling the world, putting themselves through hell for little or no money because they love their art form. It’s something that Kings Of Leon, who have spent their entire career on a major label, have never really had to contend with. Also, indie wrestlers can pick you up and then drop you on your head really hard. So maybe don’t tell them to close their legs.